


light me up

by driftingcactus



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Carnivals, Fluff, Jaehyun shows up for two seconds, M/M, Meet-Cute, rlly soft, the markhyuck is in the bg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 05:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19660696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingcactus/pseuds/driftingcactus
Summary: to jaemin, summer always meant cheap funnel cake and riding the tilt-a-whirl until he was too dizzy to walk. jeno shows him it can mean cotton-candy flavored kisses and blooming love, too.(originally titled carni-falling for you!)





	light me up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bigcaesar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigcaesar/gifts).



> hi!! this may look a little familiar to some of u guys!! it was originally called “carni-falling for you” but i decided to give it a small rebranding!!
> 
> it’s still the same story, just a little rewritten!!
> 
> i hope u guys enjoy this corny fluff <3

summer, for jaemin, was a lot of things. it was long days spent basking in the sticky heat radiating from the sun with donghyuck, and watermelon popsicles that melted quickly, rolling down his wrist to make his hands permanently sticky. (he didn’t even like popsicles that much, but nothing was more amusing than rubbing his watermelon flavored hands on donghyuck’s face until the other couldn’t scream anymore). summer was laying in the prickly, green grass of his backyard during the nighttime, pseudo-competitions with donghyuck to see who could point out the most constellations. it was last minute sleepovers, and water balloon fights. painting eachother’s nails obnoxious shades of neon orange, sneaking chenle and jisung out of their houses in the late hours of the night, and making fun of corny movies.

summer meant a lot to jaemin, but the most important part of the season was undoubtedly the summer carnival. it rolled around every year, always during the first week of july and never later. jaemin and his friends made a tradition of going, attending the fair every single summer since they were six years old. it was sorta like a ritual, similar to the sleepovers at jaemin’s house every saturday.

the carnival stood for all summer, in jaemin’s eyes. it was rigged games, tilt-a-whirl rides, cheap funnel cake, and genuine fun. so, on the second day jaemin and his small group of friends decide to go. they always waited until the second day, for some unspoken reason, and jaemin definitely didn’t want to break the tradition going into senior year — this was the last year everyone would get to go together, after all. (maybe he was being dramatic, mark wasn’t even going that far away for college, but jaemin was always really sentimental.)

-

the scorching sun was unforgiving as it beat down on jaemin’s face. it was a friday afternoon, and he, donghyuck, and chenle were all sprawled over yerim’s cheap, plastic pool chairs. (yerim had the nicest pool on the block, so they always pestered her to let them come over and hog her pool.) next to him, donghyuck groans, his bony arms knocking into jaemin’s ribs. he flops over, detaching himself from jaemin’s, and promptly lands on the ground.

“it’s so hot that i can feel my face melting off,” donghyuck sighs, and chenle makes a noise of agreement from where his face is pressed to a gaudy unicorn towel - no doubt one of yerim’s.

“hyuck, maybe if you didn’t glue yourself to my side for the last half hour, you’d feel less hot,” jaemin grumbles, and donghyuck makes a half hearted attempt to swat at his calf, sighing again. 

“just get in the pool, idiot, it’ll cool you off,” yerim says, flicking water at donghyuck’s leg. she looks like she’s gonna add something else, but instead becomes very concentrated on flipping over sooyoung’s giant pizza float. sooyoung makes a sound of protest, waving her hands frantically, but it’s muffled by the splash the float makes as it topples over.

“that right there is the reason why i’m not going to get into the pool, you evil hag!” donghyuck shouts, over dramatic, and yerim cackled boisterously as sooyoung resurfaces, her wet hair plastered to her face. she pushes her bangs away from her eyes and gives yerim a look that would make a child cry. “kim yerim, i’m going to kill you!” jaemin looks away from the third world war currently going on in yerim’s pool, tuning out yerim’s shrieks.

from the floor, donghyuck lifts his head up again and rests it on jaemin’s thigh. “yo, nana,” he says, craning his neck in a way that must be uncomfortable. “we’re going to the carnival later, right?” 

“you know it,” jaemin grins as he looks down at hyuck, eyes glimmering deviously. “you’d better start getting ready soon, lover boy. you wouldn’t want mark to see you looking like a sweaty troll, right?” the angry blush that spreads down donghyuck’s neck makes it all worth it, even if he gets tugged off his chair and flung into the pool.

“donghyuck, you only pushed him in because he’s right!” chenle shouts. sooyoung pauses in her attempts to drown yerim to agree. safe to say, jaemin isn’t the only one who gets shoved into the pool.

-

after fucking around in yerim’s pool for a few more hours, they decide to head back to jaemin’s house, with the exception of chenle. (“you guys act like a weird old married couple. except you’re both evil, and i don’t have the energy to deal with it,” he says after they leave, opting to go play video games with jisung. neither donghyuck nor jaemin can dispute the statement.)

donghyuck is cuddling him again, scrolling through his phone idly.

“nana, sweetie, the platonic love of my life,” donghyuck calls out suddenly, pulling away from jaemin. he looks a little embarrassed, which is weird because this is _donghyuck._

“um. i may need your help, yknow, finding something to wear. because this is like, the last time we have before everything changes. um,” his ears are turning a little red now, and jaemin wants to laugh at how awkward his best friend is being. “so, you want to look cute for mark?” he supplies helpfully, and donghyuck smacks his chest, pouting.

“shut up, you’re making fun of me,” he whines, and jaemin ruffles his hair. “sorry, sorry. i’m just surprised that the self-proclaimed style god is asking me, regular old jaemin, for outfit advice,” he grins almost lecherously, poking donghyuck’s cheeks. “and while looking all shy? be still, my beating heart! are you sure you’re not confessing to me?” jaemin teases, batting his eyelashes.

donghyuck rolls his eyes, huffing,“you killed the moment, shithead. besides, someone as cute as me would never confess to you, someone who has the charm of a big toe.”

“jealousy is a disease, hyuckie!” jaemin sing songs, and donghyuck punches his arm playfully. 

“all jokes aside, i’ll help you pick something out. but, only if you work your style-god magic and make me look extra cute. i, perhaps, am trying to get a tall boy to be swayed by my effortless charm and buy me cotton candy.”

“but nana,” donghyuck sing-songs, saccharinely sweet , clinging to jaemin in a way that he knows will annoy him. “how can i make you any cuter when you’re already the cutest boy in the world!” he presses obnoxious smooches all over jaemin’s face, and jaemin laughs until he’s breathless

-

mark rolls around to pick everyone up at 6, being the only one responsible enough to drive them all around. that, and he’s the only one out of all of them who owns a car. (renjun likes to argue that he’s better at driving, but mark’s still their designated driver until renjun can afford his own car. or, technically, until he goes off to college. secretly, everyone agrees that renjun is the better driver, but they all decide to keep that from mark). 

jisung rolls down the windows to stick out his arm while donghyuck plays an intense match of thumb war with chenle. renjun, from the passengers seat, tries to decide whether he should play snsd or twice, and mark vaguely looks like he would rather break his fingers than listen to gee for the millionth time. jaemin smells the tang of the ocean and fried oreos before they even arrive.

he can barely contain his excitement as they’re paying the admission fee and buying tickets, bouncing on the balls of his feet. donghyuck, from next to him, snickers and pats his back. “nana, we go every year. it’s always the same.” jaemin knows this, obviously, but the cheap lemonade and dubiously-safe rides felt new every time.

the first thing they do is stock up on sickly-sweet funnel cakes. jisung always complained that it wasn’t smart to start off with food, because chenle got nauseous quickly and would throw up, but they always started with funnel cakes without fail. (chenle never ended up vomiting anyways, despite complaining every year.) 

renjun, with chenle and jisung in tow, heads towards the rides that were more life threatening than fun, leaving jaemin alone with mark and donghyuck. 

“mark-hyung,” donghyuck says as they walk towards the game booths, clinging to mark’s arm. “you better win me a stuffed animal, or i’ll be really upset,” he pouts cutely, causing mark to blush bright red all the way up to his ears. he avoids looking at donghyuck’s lips and promises that he will, making jaemin smile to himself. they’re disgustingly cute, but he’s happy for his best friend.

“you guys act like a couple,” he hums nonchalantly, ignoring donghyuck’s glare. “it’s kinda cute.”

mark’s ears are red again, and he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “yeah, it’s kind of like we are one,” he chuckles, and jaemin smiles satisfiedly when donghyuck whips around to look at mark in shock. “um— like, figuratively of course. ‘cus i’m always coddling hyuck, and he pretends not to like it even though he does,” he explains, and now the both of them are red-cheeked, avoiding eachother’s gazes.

jaemin wonders how they haven’t realized they have feelings for eachother. — they were worse than yerim and saeron (who were dating in every sense of the way, but refused to call it that.)

they end up stopping at the water gun booth, and jaemin turns around to smile at mark and donghyuck pridefully.

“prepare for absolute defeat, fuckers, because i am an absolute beast at this game” he says, ignoring the way donghyuck snorts. “my aim is practically impeccable.”

donghyuck just cracks his knuckles in a way he probably thinks makes him look cool (it doesn’t), smirking. “nana, we all know that you’re not gonna even come close to winning. even mark could win this game,” he retorts, ignoring mark’s indignant “hey!”

“fine, believe what you want,” jaemin hums. “if you or mark win, then you get to dare me to do something stupid.” this just makes donghyuck’s eyes glimmer competitively, his smirk growing wider as he plops down on one of the seats.

“jaemin, you shouldn’t of said that,” mark sighs, getting the water gun ready. “now he’s _really_ gonna try to win.”

donghyuck’s triumphant cheers are deafening, especially when they’re by jaemin’s ear. “ha! i win, you lose, i win, you lose,” he singsongs, hugging the squirtle plushy close to his chest.

jaemin rolls his eyes, pushing donghyuck away from him to save his poor, abused eardrums.

“actually, mark won, so you still suck,” jaemin taunts, sticking his tongue out. it was beyond jaemin how mark won, because mark lee was almost virtually useless without his glasses and had the worst aim known to man. (he doesn’t think chenle will ever forgive mark for almost hitting his arm when they were playing darts. there’s not a day that goes by where he doesn’t dramatically recall the dart skimming past his wimpy bicep.)

donghyuck just smiles. “yeah, but you said i could dare you something if _mark_ or i won, and canada won fair and square.” jaemin scoffs at the way mark’s face reddens at the corny nickname, and crosses his arms.

“whatever, whatever, do your worst.” he regrets saying it when hyuck’s face lights up and he smiles mischievously.

“okay, do you see the kissing booth over there?” hyuck hums, pointing in it’s direction with the plushy.

jaemin snorts when he sees the booth. they just added it 3 years ago to bring in more money, because people were always willing to throw cash at the chance to kiss attractive people. years later, the booth is still tremendously hideous, it’s awful bright magenta kissy faces making it stick out like a sore thumb.

this year, there’s a tall, handsome man running the booth. jaemin’s not gonna lie, he’s attractive, and the sight of his straight teeth and dimples are pleasant, but the boy next to him is the one that catches jaemin’s attention. his hair is cropped short and black, and he has the cutest smile that jaemin has ever seen. ugh, the way his eyes sparkled when he laughed— 

cutting off his thoughts, donghyuck continues, “you see the boy with the black hair? i dare you to go tell him a really cheesy pick-up line and then try to get his number.” he hears mark trying to conceal a laugh, and for once, hems thankful that renjun, chenle, and jisung aren’t here. swallowing his pride, jaemin straightens out his clothes and runs a hand through his hair.

“deal,” he says, striding over to the handsome boy with black hair. he ignores the way donghyuck chortles out a “good luck!” and tells himself, _you got this._ _you’ve flirted with lots of people, don’t let this guy’s stupidly nice laugh throw you off._

the guy looks a little surprised when jaemin walks up to him. “can i help you?” he says, and his voice is a little low and pleasant.

“hey, do you have a phone i could borrow? i have to tell heaven that i found one of it’s lost angels,” he says, with what he hopes is confidence. he gives the cute boy his best smile, and the other looks kind of taken aback, but thankfully not disgusted.

“excuse me?” cute boy says, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

swallowing his (already abused,) pride, jaemin blurts out another pick-up line.

“you look a lot like my next boyfriend,” he says, with false casualness, and the boy bursts into laughter, his eyes scrunching up adorably again.

“you’re cute,” he’s smiling at jaemin now, the pretty eye smile jaemin saw on him earlier. dimple boy, who witnesses the whole thing happen, is cackling in a way that sadly doesn’t take away from his attractiveness. he gulps in a lungful of air, and the other boy on the back, still chuckling lightly. “i’m gonna leave you with pick-up boy, jeno,” he grins, winking at jaemin. “have fun!”

the boy, jeno, waves him away and turns back to look at jaemin. “im lee jeno, pretty boy,” he says, smiling again. he extends his hand and jaemin hesitates for a beat before shaking it.

“na jaemin,” he says, putting on his most charming grin and running a sheepish hand through his hair. “i’m sorry for being a creep. my friend over there, the one with the fading orange hair bickering with the taller boy, dared me to flirt with you.”

“by using bad pick-up lines?” he questions, raising a brow. at jaemin’s fake-shocked expression, he laughs and raises his hands defensively. “just kidding, just kidding. it was cute, i don’t mind.”

“you’re a little too comfortable for someone who just met me,” jaemin retorts flirtatiously, raising an eyebrow, and jeno laughs gleefully again, making jaemin’s heart beat just a little faster.

“cute people make me let my guard down,” he hums, and jaemin’s heart probably stops for a second, dramaticness aside. he grins when he sees jaemin’s red cheeks, and jaemin internally grumbles at being out-flirted.

“you look like you’re in need of a new stuffed animal, and i may or may not be really good at the games where you knock down the clown pins.” jeno winks, cheekily, and jaemin lets himself be pulled towards one of the many game stands. the way jeno hesitantly linked arms with him and tugged him along gently was a little cute. just a little.

his tongue pokes out in concentration, rolling his shoulders. it makes jaemin stifle a laugh behind his hand, and the the girl at the stand pops her gum with an eye roll, twirling the bottom of her pigtail with her pointer finger. “if you knock down 3, you get one of those big ones up there,” she sounds completely disinterested and vaguely like she would rather be anywhere else as she points to the upper display of huge plushies. “if you knock down two, you can get one of the small ones. if you don’t knock any down, or only one of them, you don’t win anything. that’s all.” she steps aside from the clown pins after her explanation, taking out her phone.

“you should give me a peck on the cheek for good luck,” jaemin teases, and jeno chuckles before lightly shoving his shoulder.

“but i’m the one who’s a little too comfortable around strangers,” he rolls eyes playfully, grinning in a suave way. “shouldn’t i be the one getting the good luck kiss anyway?” 

“nope! i’m getting it because i’m cute.” jeno huffs, but leans over to peck’s jaemin’s cheek anyways. “you didn’t deserve that but only got it because i have a heart of gold,” he hums, and then chucks the ball at one of the clown pins with all the grace of a five year old. jaemin resists the urge to cackle at how cute the sight is, and unsurprisingly, it knocks down one of the pins.

jaemin makes sure to clap his hands obnoxiously. “my hero!” he praises, and jeno giggles again before doing a very dramatic bow. “only for you, cutie.” the girl behind the stand makes an annoyed sound, glaring at them, and jeno rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, then knocking down two other clown pins. (it makes the muscles in his already pronounced biceps stand out, but jaemin pretends not to notice.)

the girl cheers dryly, and rests her head in her palm, bored.

“which one do you want?” jeno asks him, and without hesitation, jaemin picks out the jigglypuff bigger then their heads combined.

“you’re welcome,” he teases, handing him the plushy, and jaemin sticks out his tongue playfully. “just for that, i’m not saying thank you.” he mock-scolds, causing jeno to giggle again, melodious and cute enough to bring world-peace. 

-

it’s a little cheesy, how he was gravitating towards jeno even though they just met. especially because jaemin was someone who made fun of romcoms, picking at stories where the characters mindlessly fell for each other. but, right now, with jeno’s eyes curled into crescents, white teeth sparkling as he held jaemin’s hand without a second thought, he couldn’t find it in himself to blame those like romeo and juliet.

( **goofy** : ur welcome for hooking u up with cute boy

but fuck u for abandoning us u rat

jus bc u have someone to win u plushies it doesn’t mean u can just dip >:(

stfu u were probably making out w mark u have no room to criticize me stinky

 ** _Read at 7:15_ ** _)_

-

jeno is really cute. this has always been glaringly obvious, but jaemin becomes more painfully aware of it as they spend more time with eachother.

he’s effortlessly attractive, steering the bumper car with one hand on the wheel as his hair ruffles in the wind, jaw sharp enough to cut steel.

jaemin can’t even find it in him to get annoyed when jeno spends the whole time on the ride trying to ram into his car, entranced by the pull of jeno’s lips into a confident smirk.

“i’m still the better driver,” jaemin pouts as they walk to their next ride, and jeno hums, slinging an arm around jaemin’s shoulder. “whatever you want to believe, jaemin-ah.”

-

his heart swoops down along with his stomach when they get on the roller coaster, because the drop is more extreme than expected and jeno clings to him the whole time, strong arms curled around jaemin’s torso as he stuffed his head in the crook of jaemin’s neck. he squeals the whole time, even when there’s no drops or sharp twists, warm lips brushing against jaemin’s overheated skin. jaemin kind of wants to kiss him. kind of. 

(“so much for being a manly man,” he snorts once they get off the ride, swerving jeno’s attempts to flick his bicep.)

\- 

it’s nearing the closing of the carnival now, and jaemin has one more ride he wants to go on before he’s satisfied.

“listen, we have to go on the tilt-a-whirl,” he gasps, pointing in the direction of the ride. “it’s the best one!” jeno raises an eyebrow at that, but allows himself to be tugged towards the ride.

“it’s common knowledge that the bumper-cars are superior, but i’ll let you have this one,” he retorts, the corner of his mouth quirking up into a charming grin.

jaemin foregoes a reply, tugging jeno into his favorite teacup, an old, rusted mustard yellow. 

he links their arms, and presses against him as the ride begins to start up. the tilt-a-whirl’s unpredictability was always the best part. jaemin never knew how fast it was gonna be, and it filled him up with joy; wind whipping his hair and making him feel alive.

he laughed boisterously as it spun around faster and faster, and turned to glance at jeno. the other boy was already looking at him, a small smile gracing his face. it’s static electricity when their eyes meet. 

the seat jerks sharply, and jeno gets shoved into jaemin’s space, closer to him than they have been all night. a shiver runs down his spine, and he traces all of jeno’s features; his delicate lashes, his straight nose, the curve of his lips.

jeno’s eyes stray down jaemin’s face, flicking back up into his eyes, and then drifting back down again. he knows jeno is staring at his lips, can feel the palpable tension crackling between them, and traces the motion when jeno licks his bottom lip hesitantly. 

everything seems like it’s moving in slow motion. he doesn’t know who moves first, but their lips are touching, and jaemin inhales sharply, one of his hands going up to clutch onto the strong planes of jeno’s shoulders.

he tastes like sugary sweet lemonade and blue raspberry cotton candy, and his lips are just as soft and plush as jaemin imagined them to be. one of jeno’s hands goes to cup at the back of his neck, scratching at the small hairs at the base of it, and jaemin shivers again, forgetting that they’re on a ride right now, that people can see him, and let’s himself get caught up in the heat of the moment. 

jeno is gentle and cautious, making sure not to push his boundaries. he moves his lips with practiced precision and his thumb tenderly brushes over jaemin’s cheekbone, causing him to melt into the others touch. he wraps his arms around jeno’s neck, clutching at his back, arms shaking, and everything is absolutely perfect in that moment. 

they pull apart once they feel the ride come to a stop a few seconds later, faces red and lips kiss-swollen.

jaemin laughs when jeno trips and almost falls flat on his face trying to get out of the seat, wrapping an arm around his waist to steady him.

“you’re adorable, you know that?” jaemin hums, and jeno shoots him a scowl. “im supposed to be the one that gets you flustered, asshole,” he grumbles, causing jaemin to chuckle. 

“dude, this isn’t like, gonna be a one time thing, right?” jaemin says suddenly as they’re walking toward the exit of the carnival, feeling uncharacteristically nervous. jeno turns to look at him, frowning.

“um—no? unless you want it to be a one time thing?”

“of course not!” jaemin splutters, before clearing his throat. “you’re.. really cute and i had a great time today,” he coughs, blush spreading across his cheeks. still feeling disorientated, he shoves his phone into jeno’s hands. “your phone number. um. please,” jaemin mumbles, embarrassed at being so shy.

jeno laughs and takes his phone, typing in a number. “no pick up line this time?” jaemin rolls his eyes, and jeno hands his phone back to him, corner of his mouth turning up into a grin.

he moves to leave, but hesitates, turning back around. “dream of me tonight,” he winks, feeling bold all over again as he presses a kiss to jeno’s cheek, scampering away. he almost wants to turn around to see jeno’s expression, but out of his own embarrassment, doesn’t.

“well, well, well,” donghyuck huffs, tapping his foot against the pavement, arms crossed over his chest once he sees jaemin. “what have _you_ been doing all night, mr. na jaemin?”

jaemin offers nothing but a shrug of his shoulders and a shit-eating grin.  
-

the earful renjun gives him about going off with a stranger and mark complaining about him taking ages is all worth it when he gets a text from jeno as he’s laying in bed.

**jeno <33:**

hey

ur pretty

and im cute

together we’d be pretty cute ;)

oh my god, pls shut up before i die

wasnt as good as urs but i tried ;(

arcade and pizza this friday?? can’t get u outta my mind

donghyuck wakes up just to punch jaemin after he screams. he can’t even bring himself to mind.

**Author's Note:**

> hopefully that was a little easier to read than the original SHDHDHFH  
> jeno and jaemin end up dating after two months n they’re disgustingly cheesy  
> && markhyuck did in fact make out,, but they take a while to talk it out n finally date ;^)  
> i hope u guys enjoyed this!! comments make my day <3


End file.
